Set atop a hill on the Italian island of Sicily, Agrigento is a heritage tourist’s paradise. But the aqueduct, and others built in modern times, are running so dry that small hotels and guesthouses in the city and nearby coast are being forced to turn tourists away.
Set atop a hill on the Italian island of Sicily, Agrigento is a heritage tourist’s paradise. Beneath the archaeological structures and relics of its Valley of the Temples lies an ancient maze-like aqueduct system that still captures water today.
At the Le Cinque Novelle bed and breakfast in central Agrigento, where restrictions are tight, the owners have put filters on their showers and sinks to save as much water as possible. But their guests often complain. Less than a quarter of the usual rain fell during the winter across the island, which has left around 20 per cent of underground aquifers in a state of “water scarcity,” according to ISPRA. In February, the regional government declared a “state of crisis and water emergency” for irrigation and drinking in Agrigento and four other provinces to last until at least the end of the year.
Hotels are obliged to have a certain amount of water reserves relative to their capacity, said Nicola Farruggio, president of Sicily’s Hotel Federation, which means they also have had to buy water from the mainland. But smaller structures, including family-run hotels and B&Bs, often don’t have a way to store enough to meet the requirements.
It was just starting to see an uptick, too. In 2023, visitor numbers increased by 24 per cent compared to the year before, according to Picarella. Citrus farmers are also seeing their famous Sicilian oranges shrivelling on their trees from lack of water. The reservoirs used for irrigation around Mount Etna, where the oranges are grown, now hold around half the amount of water than they usually do. If there’s no summer rain, they will drop to around 25 per cent, according to the ANBI Observatory on Water Resources, a government agency.
The solutions are complicated, even for an island surrounded by water. The three desalination plants that could clean Sicily’s seawater for drinking, sanitation or irrigation have been closed for more than 10 years. Getting them back online, or drilling new wells, will take time.Woman dies at Rolling Stones concert in VancouverA B.C. woman who was repatriated from a Syrian prison camp in 2022 has been arrested and charged with terrorism offences, police announced Saturday.
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